Suffering In Silence
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: Set S7. It was unlike Ziva to miss a day of work, two days, well that was unheard of, and it led to Gibbs sending Tony and McGee to check on her. What they find at Ziva’s house changes everything. *Complete*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or the characters, and chances are that I never will.**

**It's been a while since I've posted any NCIS fics, but hopefully this will make up for it. Please tell me what you think of it!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was just past seven thirty in the morning in Washington DC, and while most people were still at home, getting themselves and kids ready for school and work, the NCIS team was already busily working in the office, everything was as it always was, except, Ziva wasn't there, she'd been away the day before too, it wasn't like her at all, she hadn't even called in.

Gibbs, and Tony and McGee too were getting worried. Sighing, Gibbs looked up from the file he was reading, and instructed Tony and McGee. "McGee, DiNozzo, I want you to go around to Ziva's apartment, something's wrong."

They agreed without pause, and after taking Ziva's spare house keys from her desk, they left.

* * *

Not long after, Tony pulled the NCIS issue sedan into the street that Ziva lived on, he parked the car in front of the building, and then he and McGee went up to the front door and Tony pressed the buzzer for Ziva's apartment, no luck. "Maybe we should just head back."

"No, Gibbs will be pissed if we don't check out her apartment, maybe she's hurt." Tony said, trying to keep his tone light, to avoid betraying his fear, he couldn't shake the bad feeling he had, something was wrong.

"Well how're we meant to get in? Find a window?"

Tony shrugged, before going back to the car, and grabbing a couple of empty Chinese boxes, he did up his coat to hide his business shirt, and scruffed up his hair, as he headed back to the door, he told McGee, wait out of the camera's view, this'll only take a second."

Tony then systematically went through every buzzer, simply saying. "Delivery." And sure enough it worked, on the eighth try, the door handle unlatched, Tony swung the door open before motioning to McGee to come back, leaving the props on the steps, forgotten, Tony and McGee quickly make their way upstairs to Ziva's apartment, sensing the tension radiating from Tony, McGee held back on saying a anything about the fact that Tony knew the way straight up to Ziva's front door. And as they reached the door, Tony knocked, though at this point he wasn't actually expecting a response, and after waiting a moment, Tony gave up, and took the keys from his pocket, and unlocked the door, before he and McGee moved into the apartment, quickly searching from room to room for their colleague.

* * *

A minute later it was Tony who found her, but when he did, it took him a moment to realise that it was in fact Ziva. She was lying on the bathroom floor, curled in a somewhat foetal position by the toilet, she was unconscious, and had thrown up all over herself, she was so pale, but what really shocked Tony, was the fact that her long hair, the hair that Tony loved was gone, there was only a plain army green bandanna covering Ziva's head. "What the hell?" Tony muttered softly, in shock, before he came to his senses, and called out to McGee. "She's in here, call 911, now!"

Tim came running, only to stop in his tracks as he saw his colleague lying motionless on the floor. "Oh my god. Tony, what the hell's going on?"

"I don't know." Tony replied slowly, before snapping. "I said call 911, McGee, now!"

McGee fumbled for his phone, and a moment later he was speaking to the operator as Tony knelt beside Ziva.

"What is your address, sir?"

Unsure, Tim put his hand over the receiver, and asked Tony. "What's the address?"

Sighing in frustration, Tony grabbed the phone, and quickly gave the operator all the details she asked for, allowing him to return his focus to Ziva, assured that an ambulance was only minutes away.

"Should we call Gibbs?"

Tony thought for a moment before answering. "No, we should hold off, at least until we know what's going on." He then remembered something. "The 911 person said that the medics would need to know if she's on any meds, and that sort of thing. Search the place, McGee..." Tony looked down at Ziva, she looked so weak, he knew that there was something very wrong with her. "There must be something around here to say what's going on."

"Yeah." McGee agreed before moving away towards the kitchen, and only a minute later he called out. "You're not going to believe this, Tony."

"What?" Tony called back.

Tim came back into the bathroom, holding a thick manila folder.

"What's that? A case file?"

McGee handed it to Tony as he said. "It's medical records, pages and pages of them. It's cancer."

Tony hastily flicked through the file, as he went through it, his expression turned from uncertainty, to worry, to downright fear. "Breast cancer, shit." Tony ran his hand through his hair shakily, before bringing it to rest on Ziva's shoulder, she was burning up with fever. Tony grabbed a towel from the rail, and gently started to wipe the vomit from Ziva's face, and then from her shirt as best he could. As he did so, he asked McGee in an unfamiliarly gentle tone. "Get me a cold face washer, would you McGee. We need to cool her down."

Tim did so without pause, and a moment later he gave Tony the cold damp cloth. Tony put down the soiled towel, and proceeded to gently wipe the face washer over Ziva's face and neck. It was then that he heard a siren, the ambulance must be close, Tony looked up at Tim. "Head downstairs and wait for the medics, would you?"

"No... no problem, Tony." McGee said, his voice shaky and uncertain, but he was more comfortable now he had a set task to do.

Tony then turned his full attention back to Ziva, who remained unconscious, despite Tony's efforts.

* * *

Barely a minute after Tim had left Tony alone with Ziva, so that he could go out to await the arrival of the ambulance, Ziva's body began to convulse, it started as a twitch, but then her whole body was shaking uncontrollably. "Damn it! Come on, Ziva, don't do this! Don't die, please, please hold on."

* * *

After that everything happened in a blur, Tim came back into the apartment with the paramedics close behind, Tim was startled when he saw Ziva's shaking form, and stayed at back, leaning against the wall beside the door.

The paramedics however, having been brought as up to date as possible by McGee on the way upstairs, went straight to work, what Tim had described, someone with cancer on chemotherapy and radiation, as he had discovered in the medical file that Ziva had been receiving for five and a half months, with a high fever, unconscious, vomiting, and now seizing, it screamed infection to the experienced paramedics. They went straight to Ziva, and knelt beside her as they started to work, one looked over at Tony, and told him. "You gotta move back, buddy. Let us help her."

Tony was reluctant, and seeing the problem, Tim moved over to Tony, and guided him out of the way.

* * *

Within minutes the paramedics had stopped the seizure, they had tried to put in an IV, but her veins were damaged from repeated accesses, only to discover that she had a triple lumen central line in her chest, and they had used that to start running in bags of fluids and medications to treat her, and once they had deemed her stable to move, had rushed her to the hospital, with Tony and McGee following in their car.

* * *

On the way to the hospital, Tony and McGee were both wrecked, Tim was driving, as Tony was shaking too much to even walk straight, let alone drive. As they were following the ambulance, Tim softly suggested to Tony. "We need to call Gibbs, tell him to meet us, and to call her father."

"You do it." Tony said, his gaze fixed on the ambulance in front of them.

Despite the high speed they were travelling at, McGee pulled his phone off his belt, and dialled the number for Gibbs' desk. It was gruffly answered on the first ring. "Gibbs."

Tim hesitated slightly before saying. "Boss, it's McGee. We found Ziva, it's not good-"

Gibbs cut Tim off before he could finish. "What happened? Was she attacked?"

Tim sighed. "She's sick, we're on the way to the hospital now."

"Which hospital?"

"Monroe University." Tim answered, and a second later the call ended.

Tony and McGee then exchanged a glance, they knew Gibbs well enough to know that once they got to the hospital, there would be trouble.

* * *

On arrival at the hospital, Ziva was rushed back into a treatment room, while Tony and McGee were ordered to wait in the waiting room for news, only minutes after they'd arrived, Gibbs burst through the entrance doors, Tony saw him, and he and McGee quickly moved to intercept him before he could reach the nurses' station.

Upon seeing his people approaching, Gibbs quickly closed the distance between them, and without pause, he asked. "Where's Ziva?"

"With the doctors, they told us to wait out here. Boss, she's-"  
Once again Gibbs broke in before the sentence could be finished. "McGee, you said she was sick, what is it? Flu? Gastro? Food poisoning? ...Poisoning?"

The pair were silent for a considerable length of time, before McGee awkwardly said. "She's got cancer, Boss. We found a file at her house, full of medical records, the paramedics said it was an infection that got out of control because of the chemotherapy stopping her body from fighting it. It's bad, Boss, really bad." McGee thought back to as he watched the paramedics forcing air into her mouth from an oxygen tank via an ambu bag and mask, as they rushed her away.

Gibbs was stunned into silence, for once in his life he was unable to think of what to say, so much so that he allowed Tony and McGee to guide him back over to the waiting area, where they all sat down, and were left waiting for news.

* * *

It was nearly an hour later when someone finally approached the weary group. A young nurse, she looked like she should still be in high school, came over, and once she had their attention, she told them. "I can take you back to see Miss David now." As usual, David was mispronounced, and as they stood up, Tony muttered.

"It's Dah-veed."

* * *

As the team followed the nurse upstairs to the ICU, where Ziva had been moved to, she filled them in on Ziva's condition. "Miss David came in suffering from severe complications of the side effects of chemotherapy, her body was unable to fight any infections, so much so that this may have well started as a cold, but in her case it has deteriorated to sepsis, which has caused her to go into multi-system organ failure. The ICU team have got her on very powerful medications to fight the infection, and put her onto a ventilator to support her breathing, and a dialysis machine to support her kidneys until her condition improves, and she is being closely monitored."

"So she's going to be alright?" Tony asked, daring to feel optimistic.

The nurse stopped, and turned to face the group. "Her condition is extremely critical, the ICU team are doing everything they can, but it's really a waiting game. You need to be aware that she may not survive."

* * *

**TBC...**

**So, how was that?**

**Thanks for reading, please take a moment to drop me a review!**

**And as always, suggestions and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism are welcome, feel free to put them in a review or PM.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or the characters, and chances are that I never will.**

**Hey, thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed the first chapter! I will just mention that it was pointed out to me that chapter whilst I gave Tony and McGee Ziva's keys, they still had to sneak into the building. I was thinking of it as needing a swipe card or a code or something like that to open the main door, and even if they had had the keys, they would not have had that.**

**Anyways, hopefully it wasn't too confusing.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

After hearing those devastating words, she may not survive, the team followed the nurse in silence the remaining distance upstairs to the intensive care unit. Upon reaching the unit, the nurse guided Gibbs, Tony, and McGee through the process of thorough hand washing before they were allowed into the unit, as they walked through the heavy metal doors that served as the entrance to the large open room that was the intensive care unit, the pain and emotional suffering that filled the air threatened to overwhelm them, looking around at the bodies lying in beds, surrounded by medical equipment, it seemed impossible that their Ziva would be amongst them, she was too strong for that.

But as they walked around past the circular nurses' station that was centrally located in the room, Ziva came into view, though it was hard to recognise her, most of all for Gibbs, as the last time he'd seen her had been at work three days earlier, seemingly fine, and now here she was, lying helpless in a hospital bed, her hair gone and now not even covered by any headwear, she looked gaunt and sickly, the ventilator connected to her through a tube running down her throat, dialysis machine, the tubes running to and from it filled with Ziva's blood, snaking to somewhere under the thin blankets that covered her, and the seemingly collection of IV bags running into the central line in her chest, it all merely confirmed in their minds the severity of the situation.

The nurse silently went and got three chairs, and placed them beside Ziva's bed for the group, before excusing herself to go back downstairs to the emergency department.

And then they were left alone at Ziva's side, praying that she would pull through.

* * *

The visiting hours were over all too soon, and the team were asked to leave, they'd been reluctant, but the staff was insistent, and besides did they really want to be there when the nurses gave their friend a bed bath?

* * *

Half an hour later they were back at the NCIS headquarters, not sure of where else to go, they came to be sitting at their desks, in a daze, just as Ducky came upstairs, carrying a file in relation to their current case, which had been all but forgotten.

Ducky immediately sensed that something was wrong as he looked around at the tired, drawn faces of the team. He went straight to his dearest friend. "Jethro, what has happened?"

Gibbs looked up at Ducky sadly as he said. "Ziva's in the hospital. The doctors don't know if she'll pull through."

"Oh my!" Ducky gasped in shock. After a moment he asked. "What happened to her, Jethro?"

"Cancer, fucking breast cancer! After everything Ziva's been through, an infection because she was on chemo! She was tortured, and this is what's killing her!" Tony surprised everyone by jumping up and exclaiming, suddenly all eyes in the room were on him, watching as he fell to his knees, his body wracked by sobs, curses and heartbroken words breaking into the cries.

By an unfortunate coincidence, just as Tony broke down, Abby walked into the room, just in time to hear what he'd said.

"Oh my god! Tony, did you just say...?! Gibbs? What's going on!?" Abby exclaimed as she rushed through the room towards Gibbs, Tony and Ducky.

Gibbs gently placed his hands on Abby's shoulders, and guided her over to his chair, Ducky followed and came to a halt standing behind Abby, a hand resting on her shoulders, as Gibbs told them. "This morning Tony and McGee found Ziva collapsed in her apartment. There was a file there, medical records..." Gibbs hesitated, and knelt down in front of Abby as he told them. "Ziva has cancer, she was having treatment. She is in the intensive care unit, and the doctors are saying that she might not get through this."

"No. No, no no no this isn't happening! Ziva, she's Ziva, she's never sick, she doesn't even get colds, how could this even happen!?" Abby questioned rapidly, jumping out of her seat, and starting to pace around the room frantically, before Tim stopped her, and held her tightly, comfortingly.

"She's a fighter, she'll be fine." Tim tried to sound optimistic, but he just couldn't bring himself to be positive at a time like this.

"Is her father going to be coming here?" Ducky asked with concern, surely she would want her family with her, but then again, this was Ziva they were talking about.

"I haven't called..." Gibbs said. Honestly he hadn't even thought of it. "Might as well do it, and get it over with." He said decidedly as he moved back over to his desk, and picked up the phone.

The team was silent as they watched their boss, mentor and friend make the phone call.

It took a minute for Gibbs to be connected through to the Mossad director; Director David answered the phone formally. "Agent Gibbs, this is unexpected, what can I do for NCIS?"

Gibbs hesitated before delivering the devastating news. "It's Ziva, Director, she's in the hospital."

Eli David seemed unperturbed. "Was she hurt on assignment?"

Wrongly assuming that Eli had at least been informed by Ziva of her cancer, Gibbs told him. "No Director, she was found in her apartment by two of my agents. Director, Ziva is in the ICU, she has an infection in her blood, the doctors are warning us that she may not survive it, and if she does, she still has cancer."

Instantly a switch flipped, and Director David became Eli David, Ziva's father. "What? Ziva has cancer? I didn't even... She didn't tell me."

"I... You should try to be here."

"The flight is long, I will be in Washington by tonight."

"Monroe University hospital." Gibbs told him, before the director ended the phone call, assumingly to prepare for the trip.

Hanging his phone up, Gibbs told the assembled group. "Director David will be here as soon as he can. She hadn't told him." Gibbs then walked away from the group towards the elevator, they knew better than to follow.

* * *

Ten hours later, now early the next morning, Tony was the only one at work, he was working silently at his desk, when Eli David approached him, and said. "Excuse me. You are Anthony DiNozzo, are you not? I am-"

Tony looked up, and straight away he recognised the man standing in front of him as Ziva's father. "Director David."

Eli David looked nothing like the uncaring, powerful head of Mossad that Tony remembered from his trip to Israel, he looked dishevelled, tired, and what Tony noticed the most, worried. "Please, call me Eli. How is Ziva?"

"I called the hospital half an hour ago, she's still in intensive care, but they said the antibiotics they're giving her are working."

"Is she awake?"

"Not last time I was there." Tony replied tiredly, he then asked. "Do you want me to take you over to the hospital? It's not visiting hours, but you're family, and you've come all this way, they'll let you in."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Tony and Director David were walking through the hallways of the hospital towards the intensive care unit. It had been a solemn ride over, it wasn't as though they were going to bother with pleasant conversation at such a time.

As they walked, Eli enquired. "Agent Gibbs said that Ziva has cancer, why did she not tell me? Do you know if she is going to be able to survive it?"

"Honestly, Eli I have no idea why she didn't tell you, or us, other than she didn't want to show any kind of weakness. And when we were visiting yesterday her oncologist came by, nice older guy, Peter Dickson, he told us that from the last time he'd seen her the treatment was going to plan, everything was looking good, that this was always a risk of chemo, but if she can get through this, she should be able to finish treatment and she'll be alright."

* * *

**TBC...**

**Thanks for reading, please take a moment to drop me a review!**

**And as always, suggestions and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism are welcome, feel free to put them in a review or PM.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or the characters, and chances are that I never will.**

**Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed the last chapter! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

When they reached Ziva's cubicle within the ICU, Tony hung back, as much as he wanted to see his partner, he felt that her father should have a chance to be alone with her. But that changed very quickly when a nurse, Tiffany Crace rushed past him, he pulled the curtain back to see what was happening, and when he did, he saw Eli standing over Ziva, comforting her as the nurse pulled the breathing tube out of her throat.

"What's going on?!" Tony demanded worriedly. "What're you doing?"

Without taking her attention away from Ziva, Tiffany replied. "She's awake, I've got orders to extubate her. Come in if you want, I'm nearly finished here."

Tony looked over at Ziva, and sure enough her eyes were open, and she was looking up at her father. "Ziva." Tony breathed in relief, he quickly moved to her side, taking the space Tiffany had been standing in, he took Ziva's hand in his. "Damn it, Ziva. You had us worried, it's good to see you awake."

Ziva coughed, her throat felt so dry and raw. She still wasn't sure where she was or how she got there.

The nurse, Tiffany came back into the room with a plastic cup, which she handed to Tony. "Ice chips, try and get her to have some, they'll help her throat." She said before leaving once again, they'd just had a new patient admitted and that was keeping all the nurses busy.

Tony held the cup to Ziva's dried out lips. "Here, Ziva. This'll help."

Ziva took a couple of the ice chips in her mouth without question, she trusted Tony. As soon as they had dissolved, and Ziva could think about something, anything other than her sore throat, she asked. "What happened? How'd I get here?"

Tony was still haunted by the memory of finding her collapsed on the bathroom floor, but shakily he told her. "You've got a pretty bad infection, because of the chemo. McGee and me found you in your apartment yesterday morning. You nearly died, Ziva. Why didn't you tell us you were sick?"

Lying in a hospital bed, feeling too weak to even move, with her partner and her father hovering beside her, Ziva knew how dumb her answer sounded. "I did not wish to bother anyone." She turned her head towards her father, and in a language that Tony recognised as her first, Hebrew, she said. "I am sorry, father. I should not have kept this from you."

Eli gently lifted her hand that he was holding, and kissed it, before replying in Hebrew. "It is alright, Ziva." He noticed her attempt to stifle a yawn. "You are tired, we will leave you to rest. I love you, my child."

As Eli pulled away, Tony moved closer, he still felt awkward as he looked at Ziva, she truly looked so different, he could tell that Ziva felt the same, awkward. "Your dad's right, you should rest. We'll be back later."

* * *

It goes without saying that the team were relieved to hear that Ziva had woken up, and was doing better, her doctor was even now talking about moving her out of intensive care. They had wanted to go to visit her straight away, but Tony had flat out told them that she needed to rest and that they should wait until evening visiting hours.

* * *

By the time evening visiting hours rolled around the team were just about losing their minds waiting to go see their friend, especially Abby, as she had not seen Ziva since she had been at work three days ago, it kept going through her mind, what would Ziva look like? Would it be awkward? How was she meant to act around her?

* * *

When they reached the hospital they were informed by the ICU staff that Ziva had been moved downstairs to the oncology ward that afternoon. Walking through the oncology ward, seeing the people lying in beds or wandering the halls, it was a horrible feeling, and even worse was the thought that Ziva was amongst them, that to these people's families she was as everyone else there was to them, another sick, for all they knew dying body.

Abby was walking beside Tony at the front of their group of five, people were staring, after all they really were a very unusual group, a goth, a retired marine, a former cop, an elderly mortician, and a computer expert.

Because Ziva's condition was still listed as critical she was in a room of six beds that was open to the nurses' station, and they could see every patient in easily. Abby stopped in her tracks when Tony led the group over to Ziva's bed, where she was resting, during the day her father must have gone to her apartment and gotten some things, as she was now wearing a plain black singlet top, and probably a pair of pyjama pants, and also a bandanna, black and white this time. There was still a lot of equipment around her bed, monitors, a dialysis machine, and too many IVs to count, but the simple fact that the ventilator was no longer among them was a massive relief.

It was still hard for the team to see her like this, but for Abby and Ducky who had not seen her in days, it was very difficult, it was a shock, despite having been prepared. This tired, thin, sick looking person looked nothing like the former Mossad agent, trained assassin, tough as nails person that they knew and loved, and it scared them all more than they would admit.

Tony moved straight to the bedside, he hadn't even reached Ziva, when she started to wake up.

"Hey, Zee-vah." Tony greeted his partner as he sat down in one of the chairs beside her bed, taking her hand as he did so. "How're you doing? What are the doctors saying?"

Ziva put her free hand to her mouth as she stifled a yawn, before she replied. "They said that it was fortunate that you found me when you did ...Dr Dickson said that I can leave in a few days, and he will restart me on the treatments when my body is strong enough."

"That's great, Zee. But how are you doing?" Tony pressed.

Ziva glanced up at the group standing a few feet away before she answered. "I am tired."

"Maybe we should leave, let you get some rest?" Tony suggested gently, he paid no attention to the group standing just feet from them.

"No, do not go." Ziva said before she looked over at her other friends. "Come over here."

The group moved closer, there was an air of awkwardness as they did so, they greeted Ziva, and she replied nonverbally.

Gibbs then questioned her. "How long has this been going on, Ziva? And why the hell didn't you tell us?!"

Ziva took a shaky breath, before she told them. "I found out that I was sick three months ago, Dr Bruce, he was my surgeon, he took the cancer out, nearly half of my right breast with it. I am sure that Tony would not mind if I was to show you all, but I am not going to." Ziva said, trying to finish on an upbeat tone. She then said. "I did not want to risk that it could come back, I am on my second round of chemotherapy. I am sorry that I did not tell you, but I was handling everything better this way."

"Alright my dear, but I know what chemotherapy and surgery entail, how did you keep such things from us?" Ducky asked with concern from where he stood at the end of Ziva's bed.

"My doctors, the oncology nurses understood my wish to keep my condition private, they allowed me to arrange my appointments early in the mornings, on weekends, late in the evenings. It would usually only take an hour or so, so if it was over a lunch time you never thought much of it. I was lucky in that most of the side effects from the treatment were controlled by the medications Dr Dickson prescribed me."

"But why didn't you tell us? We would've helped you."

* * *

**TBC...**

**Thanks for reading, please take a moment to drop me a review!**

**And as always, suggestions and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism are welcome, feel free to put them in a review or PM.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or the characters, and chances are that I never will.**

**Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed the last chapter! **

**Happy New Year everyone!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Why hadn't she told them? Maybe it was pride? Maybe it was fear? Ziva wasn't sure, all she knew was that the diagnosis had shocked her, and after hearing it she had been focusing on getting herself through this. It hadn't been a conscious decision to hide this from her colleagues, it was just what she felt she had needed to do.

But how was she going to explain that to her friends?

Not with ease, that was for sure.

"I was frightened. It felt as though this was what I needed to do." Coming from Ziva, this simple statement spoke volumes. For her to admit that she was scared...

* * *

Ziva spent three more days in the hospital before being allowed home, of course various members of the team had offered that she stay with them, but she had turned each offer down, she just wanted to go home, and get back into a routine. But upon being turned down on his offer, Tony had made another suggestion that he stay at her place, on the couch, just in case she needed something.

This offer was very tempting, too tempting, despite the medications, in the first couple of days after chemotherapy she felt like crap. Having someone there to comfort her, to clean up, to bring her light snacks of dry crackers and ginger beer, to make sure she took all the medications on time, to give her glasses of water to keep her hydrated, it would make it so much easier.

Ziva hadn't wanted to accept, but she knew that it was for the best, and the following evening she was sitting watching the news while she waited for Tony to bring over some changes of clothes and various toiletries that he was going to keep at her apartment for when he stayed over.

* * *

When she finally heard a knock on her door, Ziva stood up, and slowly made her way over to the door. She checked the peephole before unlatching the door, and pulling it open.

Tony looked exhausted as he stood on her doorstep.

"Long day?" Ziva asked as she held the door open for her partner.

"Very. We're working on a case, lieutenant went missing in Rock Creek Park, a hiker found his dog tags, covered in blood. Gibbs has had me searching the park with McGee all day. How're you?"

Ziva sighed, she actually envied Tony, she'd give anything to be working in the field, for none of this to be happening to her. At the same time, hearing that question once again irritated her. "One thing we need to make see through if this is going to work... Do not ask me how I am or I will kill you, slowly."

"Okay, okay. No asking you how you are, got it. And it's clear, Ziva, not see through."

"What is the difference?" Ziva asked pointedly, "Clear and see through, they are the same thing."

* * *

It wasn't the same at the NCIS office without Ziva, yes the team still had work to do, but somehow it was different, the banter that was so familiar was absent, the team just went into the office each morning, did their job, and left in the evenings.

Of course they spoke, but mainly it was about cases, and if it wasn't about the cases, it was about Ziva, worrying about her, checking in on her several times a day, each.

* * *

Two weeks later, Ziva was cleared by her physician to resume chemotherapy. Without hesitation, Gibbs had given Tony and Abby the day off to take her to the hospital, sit with her through the treatment, and then stay with her through the after effects.

Tony picked Abby up first at her apartment, and then they went on the pick Ziva up. The ride to the hospital was quiet; no one broke the uncomfortable silence that rested between them.

* * *

When they arrived at the hospital, Tony dropped Abby and Ziva off at the front entrance, and he went to park the car. By the time Tony found a parking spot and found the outpatient oncology unit, Ziva had already been taken back into the treatment area.

She was sitting in a comfortable looking blue chairs, Abby was sitting beside her. There was an IV bag connected to tubing which snaked down to the central line in Ziva's chest.

The sight of Ziva resting in the chair, trying to keep up with Abby's overly cheerful conversation, while toxic chemicals were being pumped into her body to fight an illness that threatened her life, well it nearly had Tony running for the men's room.

And looking around the rest of the room didn't improve anything. There were about two dozen seats lining the walls, identical to the one Ziva was occupying, most were filled by people of all ages and backgrounds, all hooked up to IVs of chemotherapies, blood transfusions, among other things.

From where he stood, Tony could hear Abby and Ziva's conversation, and it was so typically Ziva. "Are you certain that neither of you need to be at work?"

"Of course I can't speak for Tony, but I know that the lab work can wait one day, and Gibbs still has McGee to work today. There's no way I'd be anywhere else today, I'm certain, in fact I've never been any more certain about anything, well except for that time-"

Tony suppressed a laugh as he walked over to his friends. "Abby," he broke in lightly, having Abby there helped lighten the situation.

"Sorry," Abby said sheepishly, as Tony sat down beside her alongside Ziva's chair.

* * *

Unfortunately it was only a matter of minutes before their light banter was abruptly stopped, out of the blue Ziva grabbed the vomit bag that was waiting beside her leg on the chair. Abby and Tony were shocked as Ziva's body was suddenly doubled over, as she retched violently into the bag.

"Ziva?! Hey, you alright?" Tony exclaimed with concern as he watched his friend suffering.

Ziva moved her hand up stiffly in a stop motion, telling Tony, and by proxy Abby, to wait as she tried to pull herself together.

It was by no means easy to Ziva, but after a minute she managed to pull herself away from the vomit bag. After wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she offered her friends an apology, "Sorry, I cannot control it."

"It's fine, Zee. Don't worry about it."

* * *

**TBC...**

**Thanks for reading, please take a moment to drop me a review!**

**And as always, suggestions and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism are welcome, feel free to put them in a review or PM.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or the characters, and chances are that I never will.**

**Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed the last chapter! **

**This is going to be the last chapter.  
**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was six hours before Ziva was finished with the infusions, and she hadn't really stopped vomiting the entire time, it was terribly hard for Tony and Abby to watch Ziva go through this, but there was no other way, she had already warned them that the anti-emetics were good, but they did nothing to take the edge off the first twelve or so hours after the infusion.

* * *

When she was finished, Tony and Abby nearly had to carry Ziva to the car, she was so weak, god knows how she'd done this alone.

* * *

The next two days were hell on earth, Ziva couldn't eat, nor sleep, she was in pain and constantly sick, Tony stayed with her around the clock, and various members of the team were there at different times to help.

At least it was the weekend, and so they didn't have to be at work.

* * *

They never thought it would end, but sure enough by Sunday evening, Ziva started to feel better, she slept through that night, and by the next morning she claimed that she felt fine.

She wanted to work.

You can imagine how this went over, the team had watched her suffering horribly for the past three days, and now she just wanted to go back to work like nothing had happened.

"No way, Ziva," Gibbs said firmly. Tony had called him in for reinforcement when she had first suggested it. "You are in no shape to work."

On the outside Ziva did seem okay, at least at first glance, but then you would notice that she needed to hold onto something to keep her balance, she had dark circles under her eyes, her face was washed out, as much as she tried, and previously had succeeded in hiding it, they now knew better.

Gibbs had just taken a call from McGee, they were being called out to a crime scene. He had to get going, but knowing that there was a case only made Ziva more determined.

"I am fine. I want to work."

Gibbs had already been having this fight for half an hour, and he put his foot down, "No, Ziva. You are on sick leave, and until I say you can come back, you are going to stay at home, and get better. You're no use to us now, having you there, it puts everyone else in danger."

Ziva had not been happy about this, obviously, but the fact remained, she couldn't work, whether she wanted to or not. This was a reoccurring problem through the rest of her treatment, all four months of it.

* * *

It was six months, that's four months of treatment, two of, 'You need more time, let your body have a rest', before Ziva finally returned to work.

The day she came back was a great day for everyone.

The team had been aware of the plan for her to return that day, it was all set. They had bought streamers, balloons, all other sorts of party supplies, they knew Ziva would hate it, but it was all good fun.

Ziva looked quite different than she had before the cancer. Her hair had begun to grow back, but it wasn't like her hair, it was short, downy, soft, a lighter colour, she usually opted to wear a bandanna to cover it. She was thinner, she'd lost some muscle tone, her clothes always seemed too big.

But despite all these differences, she was still Ziva David.

The whole team, and people from several other teams, even Director Vance was there, all waiting there to welcome her back. And as Ziva stepped out of the elevator, the assembled crowd burst into cheers and applause.

Abby had even made a banner, it read "Welcome Back Ziva!"

The party dispersed quickly when Gibbs phone rang, a moment later he called out, "Grab your gear."

And they headed to the latest crime scene.

It was a victorious moment for Ziva as she rejoined the team, she had beaten the cancer, and her life could now go back to normal.

* * *

**The End.**

**Thanks for reading, please take a moment to drop me a review!**

**And as always, suggestions and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism are welcome, feel free to put them in a review or PM.**


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